Tag Archives: Free

Bug Heroes is easily one of my favorite iOS games of this year so far (click here for my previous review). The game is a clever, inventive, and just plain fun blend of dual-stick shooters, tower-defense games, and action-RPG character enhancement, in which you play as a group of bugs trying to defend its stash of food from the endlessly intensifying attacks of wave after wave of enemy creepy-crawlies. And it just got even better, with a massive version 2.0 update, which adds a new map in coliseum mode for free, as well as new abilities for the game’s original three heroes. Additionally, the game now features three new content packs, available as $0.99 in-app purchases. Each new content pack unlocks two new heroes, a new map for adventure mode, and six new types of enemies that go along with the map.

Also, the game is currently free in celebration of the 2.0 update. If you’ve been on the fence about the game, missed out on hearing about it when it came out, or just plain want a free game (and a very high quality one at that) — there really is no good excuse not to download it.

As far as the in-app purchase content packs, I found them to be well worth my own personal hard-earned $2.97. The new characters are all a blast. They are, in no particular order, a fly bandito, a ladybug fencer, a grasshopper fighting monk, a stick-bug wizard, an inchworm with a long-range rifle, and a termite who has a variety of turret skills. The new maps are also a blast, providing unique spins on the gameplay by offering creative enemy designs. All of the new characters have a lot of creativity which is evident in their overall design and especially their unique attacks.

Also, Foursaken Media, the game’s developers, have promised to unlock an exclusive preying mantis hero for free, once they receive 500,000 votes for the game. There are several ways to vote, all of them free, such as liking Foursaken Media’s profile on Facebook, liking their Facebook posts, following them on Twitter, and Tweeting about them… whatever that means 😉

You really, really should download this game and give it a try. And if you already own the game and enjoy it, I would recommend purchasing some or all of the unlockable content packs. I’ve been having a lot of fun with them for the past few days, for less than the price of a latte.

Oh the joys of Words With Friends, bringing the Scrabble experience to a whole new level.

I’ve been a Words With Friends fanatic for about three months now (beating everyone in sight, by the way), but one of the largest problems I had was the crashing. It would crash on my iPad and iPhone at least three times a day, along with its usual, long loading times.

Well fear not, Newtoy has not forgotten about its customers. They’ve just released a 4.0 update that adds Facebook Connect to the app, allowing you to challenge your Facebook friends and more. Along with that, some much needed speed optimizations have been added alongside bug fixes and crash fixes.

And if you haven’t downloaded Words With Friends yet, I really suggest you do if you’re into the whole Scrabble thing (or if you like to challenge your mind every once in a while). There is a free version and an ad-free version for $2.99 available.

If you haven’t noticed already, Overkill is sitting on the #1 free spot in the App Store so far. So, the Curious George inside of me decided, “What the heck do I have to lose?”

And quite frankly, I did lose one thing: nearly five hours of my time. Overkill has become this weekend’s most played game on my iPhone, and while it’s a shame that it doesn’t quite work on the iPad 2, they have claimed that an update is coming.

But that’s not the best part: Overkill contains 84 different achievements, all of which are fairly easy given you have enough time to unlock all of them. As I type, I’ve unlocked 34 achievements and counting withint a five hour time span, which is a lot more achievements than any other game can really boast.

The game is a real doozy, and if you haven’t downloaded Overkill yet, I suggest you go on right away. And of course, if you’re looking for some new GameCenter games with achievements, Overkill isn’t a bad place to start.

P.S. You can earn OM, currency used to buy highly-touted weaponry, by downloading various apps through the Tapjoy system they have employed. While it does take some time, it’s totally worth it and an extremely easy way to earn OM rather than buying them. Just a little shortcut for all those worried about having to buy OM.

I mean, how epic does that sound? On top of that, the pre-release screenshots looked killer, and I was more than excited to get my hands on this title. And boy oh boy, I can’t say enough praise for Hunters Episode One.

It’s not without its flaws: the visuals can still do with some improvement, and the speed/framerate of the game is a bit slow even on the iPad 2. I wish I could skip all the enemy actions, along with changing up the UI a little bit to be a bit brighter.

But the gameplay itself is fun. You can’t really ask for much more in a game, and this is probably one of the few games that have proved worthy of my precious hours.

Likes

Just Plain Fun: I love strategy games: anything that has to do with challenging your mind. Hunters Episode One does just that with around five different unit types, each with their own set of weapons/armor, and completing each mission is just a blast. I honestly don’t have any words to explain why it’s fun: it just is.

Variety: There are so many items and armors that I doubt anyone will be able to buy even a quarter of what the game’s store has. There are just so many items all with their ups and downs, and the possibilities are endless. All of the missions are quite varied too, from protecting the reactors to finding artifacts and returning them to the base.

Visuals: I almost didn’t put this here since they’re not perfect, but you have to admit the lighting effect looks cool. I’m not sure if that’s part of the image and doesn’t change, but even if it is, the artist sure has some skill. The characters could use some more decorations in their armor and such, and choosing your own team color would be nice. But these are all extra features; the ones right now should suffice.

Dislikes

GameCenter: Achievements and/or leaderboards anyone? From a lot of the developers I’ve heard from, GameCenter does seem to boost some sales. And it makes me a happy camper. Just saying.

UI: The UI is a little dim, nothing too major. It just seems like the buttons are “off-limits” when they’re that dim.

Skip enemy turns: This is probably one of the biggest features I would love to see implemented into this game. Instead of waiting and seeing what your enemy is doing, it would be awesome to just skip that and see the results of the enemy’s turn (if that makes any sense). Also, fast forwarding through all those unit movement animations would make each game a lot faster. Right now it feels like I’m wasting precious time on what could be used for other things.

Hunters Episode One HD is far from perfect when it comes to features, but the gameplay is nearly perfect. I love turn-based strategy games, and I’ve never poured so many hours into one iPad game than I did with Hunters Episode One HD. Sure, there are a lot of games on the iPad I haven’t played. But Hunters Episode One has captured my heart and there’s no doubting that.

I’ve never really been into TCG; maybe collecting cards, but never trading. When I was young I had some Pokemon cards, but other than that, trading card games were never my thing.

Enter Shadow Era, one of the first TCG games I’ve seen on the App Store aside from Orions (a game that I never tried). And boy oh boy, I really can’t say anything but good about it.

The first thing Shadow Era does right is that the gameplay structure is built so that you keep playing: level up to be able to use more powerful cards, along with earning coins and experience after every battle to be able to buy new cards. You can buy money through in-app purchases which in turn are used to buy more powerful cards, but you can always earn your way to buying cards.

While there was some lag on my iPhone 4, and the UI could use some improvement, the overall game has got me into the trading card game genre. And best of all, it’s free.

Likes

Graphics: We’ve come a long way graphically from Battle for Wesnoth. The artwork is—for lack of a better word—amazing. The 3D effects when playing the actual game is not too shabby, and the visuals have really impressed.

Cards: There are a large number of cards. And that’s probably the biggest understatement of the year, as there’s at least 200 cards to choose from. There are so many decks, booster packs, and single cards that it’s somewhat overwhelming to try and choose which deck. There’s just so much here, along with the fact that each card is aesthetically appealing.

Free: I don’t really know how well Shadow Era is doing financially, but for me, this is the ideal freemium title. You can earn your way to buy the things you can buy with really money, and if you’re lazy, you can just quickly purchase more powerful packs.

Dislikes

Multiplayer: It was tough matching up in a multiplayer match, and it would be nice if the developer streamlined it a little more. It’s not bad, but it does take a while to actually play someone. Also, it does look like you can’t challenge a specific person.

Slow: The game does get a bit slow when casting spells such as the Fireball, and it would also be nice if we could skip through the AI’s turn. Just a better performance overall would be nice, but the speed right now is bearable.

Shadow Era is a fun, enjoyable TCG game. Like I said before, I’ve never really been into TCG until now, and the experience has been nothing less than positive. I would like to see some improvements in speed and multiplayer match-ups, but other than that, Shadow Era is a game that you won’t want to miss out on. Plus, it’s free. You can’t really get any cheaper than that.

Shadow Era was developed by Kyle Poole, and I played through version 1.23 on my iPhone 4. The price is free with varying in-app purchases.